I’ve been getting spectacular results with the WaterBodyOcean plugin/tool, great work UE team!
A recent client request involves a change in state, so that the ocean is more turbulant at first, and then calms throughout the anim sequence. But it looks like almost none of the parameters are available to keyframe in sequencer.
Any ideas on how I could go about exposing parameters like Wave Max Amplitude and Wave Attentuation Water Depth?
Why might these parameters not be keyable to begin with? Is it a compile/offset map generation limitation? It looks like the plugin/tool isn’t a blueprint, rather straight up C++ code.
Any insight on what I can expect going forward with the tool? It looks like it’s limited to a visual mostly approach, I see some options for collisions but are there options to change the state during an anim sequence?
Is there any approach to carve out space for floating objects like a row boat, so that the water is not intersecting within at sea level?
You wont find a way to expose anytning. Even if you did, it wouldnt reflect into the physics since the code for it is c++ that happens CPU side while the material happens GPU side in a shader.
Stencils and double shell will allow you to make the inside of a boat not show water.
Modifying the material to add a transparent output where the boat is using distance to bearest surface can also work in a pinch.
All your takes will always be random. There is no way to sync the system as it just uses Game Time. That and its also a physics simulation when involving boyancy objects.
Also like most of the engine if not all of it, it sucks.
If you do the simulation of water in blender and import an alembic cache you get a much better end result and the ability to sync it however you want.
And realistically, there is no reason to use Unreal for rendering anything anymore either when other tools do a much better job for shorts that require transparencies, object z sorting etc.